For information on the American Presidency visit the web site "American Presidency Project". One item of interest is a listing of the election results for all presidential elections. Of course, the site notes the oath taken by an incoming president. It is as follows: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" ( I wonder if the last occupant of this office took the same oath?). As to choice between "swear" or "affirm"; President Franklin Pierce in 1853 was the first to "affirm" and Herbert Hoover in 1929 also preferred "affirm". Why, I don't know. The oath is taken with a hand on a Bible but Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 "was the only one not using a Bible".
(Source: web site "American Presidency Project" and "Facts, Firsts and Lasts" in The Virginian Pilot on January 19,2009)
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